Guardians, Guides, and Playmates
by Pagen Godess
Summary: Merlin and Arthur take a rest under a very old tree. A very old tree that has a face.
1. Guardian

Guardian

He'd been separated from the Arthur. Not only had he been separated from Arthur but he was also bleeding from several different places. The sad thing was that other than the bleeding this hadn't been the worst day he'd ever had. Merlin could easily think of several more that had been much worse than this one had.

Though to be far most of those revolved more around Arthur being wounded instead of him being wounded but his current state could have been much worse. He was in fairly good shape considering that he fallen down the side of a narrow path after their patrol had been attacked by bandits and he was now sitting in the forest some hundred or so feet down from where he'd been before.

Again.

Merlin was quite certain that the first thing he was going to do when he had more than a minute of free time upon returning to Camelot was looking for a spell that would negate these types of things, if there was one, and if there wasn't he was sure he could make something that would work like he wanted it to. He was quite tired of being attacked every time he went somewhere with Arthur.

In order to do the much however he needed to get up and find his way back to Arthur and the others and that was his current problem. His being unable to get up that was because Merlin was fairly certain that he might have broken something during his fall because every time he tried to stand sharp pain would bolt up and down his entire body.

He'd thought about trying a healing spell but with his luck with such spells it wouldn't work. Plus he'd promised Gaius that he wouldn't use healing magic when he had a head wound. So here he was stuck sitting at the base of a tree in a forest injured and waiting for his friends to come find him.

It wasn't something he wanted to repeat anytime soon of ever. He hated making people worry and he really did it too much as things were. Merlin sighed and shifted his left arm so that he could wrap his hand around a badly bleeding cut on his right arm. The sleeve of his coat had been torn off on sometime during his fall which was rather annoying considering he only had two coats. Things could be worse. Things could always be much worse than they currently were.

"At least it wasn't Arthur." Merlin mumbled to himself as he let his eyes drift shut. The sharp call of a bird and a flutter of wings caused him to jerk his head up and open his eyes again. Blue eyes blinked and Merlin fought off the mad desire to rub his eyes with his good arm because sitting only a few feet away from him on the root of a nearby tree was a falcon. The irony of it being a merlin wasn't lost on him either.

"What are you doing here?" Merlin asked the bird. The falcon simply stared at him and turned its head in answer. Merlin blinked and if he had been able to find the strength to hit himself he just might have done it. He was talking to a bird like it was going to answer him. Considering he talked to the horses in the stables maybe he wasn't quite insane yet. Oh well, Arthur was likely to get him there by the time their destinies were done and over with anyways so it didn't really matter.

"I don't suppose you could help me could you?" Merlin asked the falcon. The bird screeched in response before taking flight. Merlin sighed.

"I didn't think so." So it was with a sigh that Merlin let his head rest against the trunk behind his head and closed his eyes. If he was going to be stuck in one place for a while he could at least get a little rest first.

Ooo

Merlin didn't know how long he'd been drifting in and out for when a familiar shriek and flutter of wings caused him to jerk into complete consciousness. Merlin let out a gasp as pain shot through his body at the sudden movement. The area around him was darker now the sun just beginning to set. It was also starting to get colder as well.

Both those things however didn't hold his attention for very long however because sitting on the same branch as before was the exact same falcon. Merlin blinked twice just to make sure he wasn't seeing things and when the view remained the same he found he had to speak.

"Where did you get off too?" Merlin asked. The bird blinked and fluffed its wings in reply before turning and looking in another direction. Merlin had to wonder if it was looking at something that he couldn't see yet. Knowing the bird it probably was. Merlin wasn't quite sure he liked the thought of the falcon before him knowing something that he didn't. He didn't like the thought of knowing that something dangerous might be coming and not being able to defend himself either.

He'd use his magic if he absolutely had to but it was something he'd like to avoid if he could. Doing magic with a head wound was dangers and sometimes it could only make things worse and not better. A soft chirping sound brought Merlin back to the present and it took him a moment to realize that he'd been drifting off while thinking.

"What do you see that I can't?" Merlin asked. Wings ruffled and extended and for a moment the falcon took to the air. It didn't go far however because its next perch was Merlin's uninjured leg.

Merlin watched eyes wide as the falcon shifted and moved so that the two of them were almost seeing eye to eye. As Merlin stared his gaze became unfocused and slightly distant and after a moment his eyes burned gold. There was no strain with this act of magic like there might have been with any other he tried while injured. This magic was instinct.

This was the same type of magic that had shown him Gwen's true form when she'd been turned into a deer by Morgana. It took a moment but before long he could just make out something reflected in the falcon's eye. As he watched the reflection came into sharper focus revealing a group of men moving through the forest with two familiar figures leading them.

Merlin would know Arthur and Gwaine anywhere even in the reflection of a bird's eye. Merlin huffed a soft laugh as the bird screeched at him and took off into the air. Merlin blinked as the bird flew away through the trees. He had to wonder if the falcon was going to make sure if Arthur and the others were on the right path or if it was gone for good this time.

"Merlin!" The voice yelling his name sounded annoyed, worried, and relieved all at once. Only Arthur could manage to sound like that while trampling through the woods and making enough noise to alert everything nearby of his presence.

ooooooo

Well look at that my first finished Merlin fanfic. With some luck this will be the first of many to come. This story was based off of the picture Guardian by *mizuk0 on deviantart. I'll post a link to the picture on my profile if you want me to. Just ask and I'll have it up as soon as possible.

Now this story has three parts so far. Each part is based off of a different picture and will be a different story. I'm going to try and have the second chapter posted sometime this month. Please bear with me however I have a fairly long list of one shots waiting to be written but I will try.

And please let me know what you think. Oh and please let me know if I got Merlin right. I like to think I did but I'm not sure.

Happy reading!

Pagen


	2. Emrys and the Fairies

Emrys and the Fairies

Merlin chuckled as he watched the glowing green forms of two fairies dart through the air in front of him. To anyone else they'd appear to be dragonflies or butterflies but to him they were small human like creatures that were a never ending source of amusement especially when they were as young as the ones that he was sitting with.

The day was warm and bright and for the moment he could simply sit at the base of one of his favorite trees in the forest and relax. The herbs that Gaius needed him to gather weren't hard to find and if he provided a bit of entertainment for his company then they'd help him gather them when he finally got up and moving. There was something freeing about meeting magic creatures that weren't trying to kill him or someone he loved.

There were moments when Merlin was certain that something out there didn't want him to achieve everything that he was supposed to. It was slightly worrying that a large number of the magical creatures of the world seemed to be out to get him. But for now Merlin wasn't going to worry about that. For now he was going to sit on his coat and enjoy the feeling of grass against the skin of his unshod feet.

"Will you show us your home Emrys?" One of the fairies asked, her voice was a soft echo in his head, as if fluttered around his head. The other bobbed up and down in agreement. Merlin smiled and answered.

"If you'll hold still long enough for me to get the spell right I will." Excited giggles erupted from the fairies as they spun in the air a few times before setting down on his knee. Small golden eyes watched as he moved his hands so that they were parallel from each other. It looked as if he were holding the air between them.

Closing his eyes Merlin took a deep breath before reaching for the bright stream of gold that flowed alongside his blood. Once he had ahold of it he framed the thought of what he wanted to do in his mind's eye and willed his magic to make it happen.

Merlin was only half aware of the words that flowed from his lips as his magic did his bidding but there was no doubt that if he ever wanted to do this spell again later the words would come to him with an ease that still amazed him. When he opened his eyes his irises were blazing gold and there was a fuzzy image suspended between his hands. The fairies had left his upturned knee and were floating in the air beside his hands their wings working furiously to keep them in place.

"Well that's a little hard to see isn't it?" Merlin asked as he focused less on the magic he was using and more on the fuzzy picture of Camelot's castle. The more he focused on the picture the clearer it became and the clearer the picture became the more excited the fairies became.

Finally after several seconds the picture resting between his hands was so clear that one might just believe they were looking down upon the castle from its highest tower. When the magic was strong enough and Merlin sure the spell wouldn't fall apart he pulled the hand on top of the picture away a faint golden trail following his pale fingers.

The fairies shrieked with joyful laughter as they darted around the picture one of them fluttering up to touch the magic that had come away with his hand before darting back down again. The laughter was like the chime of small bells being blown about by a soft breeze. It was a wonderful sound and some part of Merlin aced to hear it. Gwen would have loved to meet the fairies and Merlin knew that they would have adored Camelot's queen.

"Show us something else Emrys?" One fairy cried while the other echoed it in a softer voice.

"Will you show us the king and queen?" The second of the fairies asked as she hovered. Merlin smiled and nodded his head.

"I'll show you anything you want for now so long as you help me when we're done here." The fairies giggled and nodded their heads so vigorously that their entire body's shook with the force of it.

Turning his attention back towards the glowing picture Merlin shifted his focus from the castle to Arthur and Gwen. The pair appeared seconds later dressed in the cloths that they had been wearing that morning when they'd been holding council with the people of Camelot and the outer villages. The pair of them was offering the poor villager kind smiles and all of their attention. It looked as if there wasn't anyone else in the world other than the skinny man before them.

"The queen's pretty." One of the fairies said as she reached out with a softly glowing hand. It looked almost like she was going to touch the Gwen hanging in midair but she stopped just short of actual contact her hand hovering in the air before her.

"She is," Merlin replied, "She's also very kind to those that need her and loving to her friends. The last thing you want to do though is make her mad. She has a temper when she's angry." The fairy that wasn't hovering in front of Gwen's image turned to look at him.

"What about the king? What is he like, Emrys?" The little being inquired. Merlin smiled wider at the mention of Arthur. As if sensing the change in topic the image shifted so that it was showing Arthur instead of Gwen.

"Arthur's not as patient as Gwen is and he's got a nasty temper that tends to show up whenever it's not needed. He's a good man however and on his way to becoming the king that Albion needs." Merlin's voice was soft and full of affection as he spoke about his other half.

Most magical creatures new the story of the Once and Future King bit it appeared that the fairies before him didn't or if they did they enjoyed hearing it enough that they wouldn't say anything about him telling it. That was fine because Arthur's story was one he was willing to tell to the end of days and he'd tell it to anyone and anything that wanted to hear it.

oooooo

Not very long but it wan't really meant to be. I hope that you all liked it and I'd love to see reviews for this. Let me know if you come across any huge mistakes please. I plan on reading through this in a few days and fixing any mistake I see but for now this hasn't been proofread. I have one more one shot planned for this series. Fear not however because I had several idea's for chapters. I just have to find the list that I wrote them on. I'm not sure if I'll update again this month or not. I'll try however so please keep an eye out.

This story was inspired by the picture Emrys by Kogitsune-no-Yosora on deviantart.

Pagen


	3. Shelter

Shelter

Merlin sighed and rubbed his hands over his face before leaning down to check on Arthur. The blonde king was still pale and there were still dark marks under his eyes but he wasn't shivering as much as he had been before.

"Only you Arthur could take off your boots so you could soak your feet in a stream and get bitten by a snake." Merlin said his voice filled with an equal measure of awe and worry. There was no reply from the prince in question, not that Merlin had been expecting one. He'd put Arthur into a spelled sleep as soon as he'd gotten the man under the branches of the willow that sat several yard's away from the river.

It was a relatively weak spell that would wear off in a few hours by itself but by then it wouldn't matter because Arthur would be in a deep enough sleep that there was little chance of him waking up on his own before the sun rose the next morning. And if by some chance the clotpole did wake up before morning then Merlin would worry about that when it happened. Merlin sighed as he tucked Arthur's cloak around his body so he would be more comfortable before standing and moving around the tree that they'd taken shelter under. There was something about the tree in question that had drawn Merlin to it instead of one of the many others that grew by the river. The feeling was a soft tingle beneath his skin that he hadn't been able to ignore.

It was a feeling that he both knew and didn't know and that was only because the magic of plants was a completely different thing when compared to the magic of other living things. Trees, especially very old trees, had a magic that was drawn from the very depths of the earth and felt much older than the magic that rested on the surface. Merlin stopped as he rounded the tree a slow smile making its way across his lips. Merlin grin was bright as he realized why this tree had seemed to call to him. He'd found a heart tree. Gaius had told him that they'd all been burned or cut down during the Purge but here he was standing face to face with a heart tree.

He meant that quite literally too because the tree before him had an actual face. The face bore a gentle smile, a long slightly crooked nose, and a pair of deep-set eyes beneath large brows. Smiling Merlin reached out to place a hand on the tree before him. The bark was rough under his fingers but the magic that ran in rivers under the bark was old and soothing, the type of magic that was best for healing. Merlin threw back his head and laughed because it only made sense that he'd find a tree that had healing properties when he needed it.

His luck was funny like that. Merlin liked to think that it was destiny's way of giving him a helping hand though Merlin would have liked it if destiny would give him a helping hand when he really needed it. The snake bite on Arthur's ankle wasn't life threatening and didn't really need the healing that the heart tree would provide but Merlin was thankful for it anyways. He'd had very little to be thankful for as of late with the threat of Morgana looming over his head all the time. Merlin sighed and pulled his hand away from the tree before he moved to sit on one of the upraised roots.

There was nothing he could do about Morgana at the moment but Merlin was tired of worrying about whether or not she was going to tell Uther about him poisoning her. He had enough to worry about when it came to Arthur alone without worrying about everything else. Merlin rubbed at his eyes for a moment before he leaned back so that his back was resting on the heart tree's trunk. The flow of magic he could feel coming off of the tree was nice and without meaning too Merlin found himself relaxing. As the tension drained from Merlin's body his eyes began to droop. The sudden feeling of safety and comfort wasn't enough to send him to sleep completely but it was enough for his brain to go slightly fuzzy at the edges.

Merlin knew that no harm would come to either him or Arthur so long as the two of them were hidden from view by the willow's long vines. The peaceful magic radiating from the tree would push away those with any human or animal ill intentions. It was nice to be protected by something for once instead of having to protect. Merlin yawned and stretched but didn't bother moving from his root. Moving would come in time, when he had to get up and make something to eat for dinner and make a fire for light and warmth.

Merlin found that he wasn't in a major hurry to worry about either of those things just yet. For now he planned on sitting beneath the heart tree and drawing in as much magic from the surrounding area as he could. This act was a different kind of rest but rest none the less. His magic suffered just as much as his body did when he was stressed and it was nice to be able to close his eyes and reach out to the web of energy that crisscrossed the land. It wasn't often that he had a change to replenish his magic like this. He always had far too much to do when he was in Camelot. Not that the great city had very much to offer in magical energy anyways. The lines that ran through Camelot didn't carry magic at all anymore.

Nimueh had broken them when Uther had forced her to flee after Arthur's birth. The broken lines had been meant as a warning to anyone with enough magic to sense them. The lack of lines in Camelot didn't seem to have the desired effect however but that might have had more to do with revenge driven mad men than to do with the actual lines. While the lines could be taken as a warning they could also be taken as an offense to anyone who knew they were there. Merlin was half convinced that the broken lines drew sorcerers there because of a natural desire to fix what was broken. Merlin knew that feeling all too well. When he'd first arrived in Camelot he'd had to constantly force himself to stay away from the lines.

Gaius had given him a stern lecture about why fixing them was a bad idea because while the lines were a bother they did help keep things away more than they drew things too them. Fixing the lines would draw much more attention now that they had been dead for so long and there was no telling what would come to investigate if they were put back together. It was one of those things that made Merlin ache with want but he knew that in time he'd be able to set the lines right. All he had to do was wait. Merlin gave his head a sharp shake to clear out his thoughts before opening his eyes and stretching.

Blue eyes flicked over to Arthur's slumbering form checking to be sure that the prince was still alright. What Merlin saw caused a small smile to cross his face. Arthur's color was already better and his breathing sounded like it was coming easier than it had been when he'd first been placed beneath the heart tree. Merlin's smile stayed as he pushed himself to his feet.

He had things he needed to do before he settled again and it was best to do them now before he got lazy and put them off again. But he had one thing to do before he got to work gather wood and fixing dinner. Merlin moved so that we was standing in front of the heart tree's face again before placing a single pale hand on what would have counted as the face's forehead.

"Thank you." Merlin whispered and pushed a small amount of magic into the earth beneath his feet for the tree to feed on. Pulling his hand back Merlin moved away and began to hum softly under his breath as he began to search for wood for a fire. He didn't quite hear the tree's reply.

"You are very welcome Emrys."

OOOOOO

Yes I borrowed the heart tree idea from Game of Thrones and no I have no problems with it. Ugh, I still feel like I'm floundering around like a fish with Merlin but everything I write makes me that little bit better I guess. What I need to do is sit down and rewatch my Merlin seasons. I also need to get seasons 4 and 5 and watch them. Stupid scifi not showing the last five episodes before the season comes out of DVD. Ok I'm going to stop right there because I will rant for a thousand words if I go on.

This one shot was inspired by the picture Shelter by mizu0 over on deviantart. This is the last of my picture inspired one shots. All of the stories that follow this one will be fairly random. I'm tempted to just go through one of my books on mythical creatures and so it that way. I'll try and update this series once a month at least because I still have several one shots to write for people based on their pic's. I'm also working on a few chaptered idea's for this series so with some luck those will go well. Please let me know what you guys think.

Happy reading!

Pagen


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